canker sore/cold sore/herpes question - Herpes Message Board

hmmmmmmm · 11-21-2003, 01:06 PM

Hi,
I'm new to the board and just want to relate my experience to see if anyone out there has has a similar experience or can offer some information.
I ever since I was a kid with braces I would periodically get what I guess would be considered canker sores. I always called them cold sores but from what I've read they are not.
They show up as little white dots, with red inflamation around them and are painful. They get a little bigger, sometimes very painful (especially whan exposed to acidic things etc..) and eventually go away. They do trigger an immune response, ie fatigue, swollen glands etc..They have never been anywhere except inside the mouth and they dont spread once they show up.
Cut to a few years ago and I have an outbreak on my genitalia of something that looks like a pimple and is a little sore. I notice this while me and my girlfriend are having sex. For the next several months, these outbreaks occur periodically, and seem to replace the canker sores, that is I get them once in a while and I dont get the canker sores anymore. My girlfriend never got any symptoms.
I went to a dr and he said it was herpes, didnt do any testing and I took acyclovir for a while.
I still get the occasional canker sore and the occasional breakout down there. The canker sores are not as frequent ever since the other breakouts. They both seem very similar and kind of related. I never get both at the same time, although sometimes it might be a little uncomfortable in both places and then there is only an erruption in one place.
From what I've read it doesnt quite jibe with the traditional understanding of herpes but I'm hoping someone can shed some light for me out of experience.
thanks

movingrightalong · 11-21-2003, 01:45 PM

Hi,
I get canker sores as well, sometimes more than others. Sometimes I can bite the inside of my mouth and I wont get one and sometimes it turns into a terrible one and I think it just depends on what my system is doing at the time. I would be surprised if there was much of a correlation between the two. If you ever had both at once it would seem it was an immune thing, such as your system was a little weak at the time or it was busy fighting your outbreak down below that it was too weak to heal the sore in your mouth. I'm no scientist, so I could be way off base as to how these things work, but my guess is that they are definitley two totally different deals. I know I've never thought of a correlation in that canker sores are not contagious, so I figured that was end of story!
Good luck. I know I've had some bad canker sores, and then my lip swells, so I accidentally bite it and make two more where the bite mark was and my lip swells up I end up looking like Bubba from Forrest Gump... and then like I said, I go a long time with no problem. The body is a funny thing... very mysterious and everyone's behaves a little differently. Having H and reading people's experiences has only made this more clear!
take care
movingrightalong

yodiggity · 11-21-2003, 01:58 PM

Hello,

Interesting thread. I have canker sores in my mouth all the time. Sometimes cuz of biting, too much acidic fluid or in my sleep I bite myself. Is this a symtom of herpes? If so, I have had for 20 some-odd years, at least. I can still pass it on to someone else than, correct? If I have an outbreak in my mouth, than I can give it to someone else during oral sex?

Scary little virus, huh? Plus it has to be wicked contagious. Cause they say that the virus doesn't have to be present or symptomatic to spread to another person. Is this something that you should tell a partner? I mean if it's so common?

Good luck.

hmmmmmmm · 11-21-2003, 03:14 PM

I dont know, it seems to be correlated to me, and I'm sure I havent explained the subtle things that make me think so very well, but it just seems like a one or the other thing. Its almost as if my body was on a schedule for canker sores (for over 10 years) and once I had a genital b/o (which was threee years in to a monogamous relationship), that breakout took the place in the schedule.
The canker sores seldomly develop from cuts. Normally they just develop, and in phases they appear in the same area, like under my tongue at the moment.
I think I said 6 months, but it was like a year or more, that I had no canker sores when I first got the periodical genital b/o. That is an awfully big coincidence.
I guess I should get some sort of test next time to make sure it is herpes. Could the genital break out be anything else? could the canker sores be anything else?
thanks for your input

movingrightalong · 11-21-2003, 05:27 PM

Canker sores are not contagious. Herpes rarely occurs INSIDE the mouth, but can happen. Rare, but possible from what I understand. Therefore it is possible that it's been herpes in your mouth all along. Also, does your partner have herpes down below? Just curious if either of you knew that you had it or it was a complete surprise.